New to the forum :) Do you do "well" visits?

[Mattee Petersen]

Hi everyone! My name is Mattee. I have 2 sons, 19 mos & 6 weeks old. Our story in a nutshell: I felt very unsure about shots with ODS, but didn't do any research, so I didn't know we had a choice not to do them (tsk tsk on me....), so when it came for his 2 month shots, we got them done. I was not comfortable with the reaction he had to the shots, so that spurred me to research. He is no longer vax'd & neither is YDS :) I was taking ODS to his "well" check ups up until a year. When his Dr. called & left a message that his 15 month was cancelled because the Dr. was going out of town, I decided not to reschedule it. Mostly because I feel like it's a huge waste of time & money! Why do I need to take them in to hear "Oh, they're behind on their shots.... Well why aren't you getting them.... That's a normal reaction, etc etc..." Wouldn't I know if they weren't well? I would hope that I know my child well enough that if something wasn't right I would know. 

[Deepfeet]

We've never been to a "well visit". I get funny looks from friends and family when they ask me when DS last went in for a check up. "He hasn't been". I often get, "He's due for a well visit soon, isn't he?" I reply "He sure is, (I never bring up the fact that he doesn't go) I think babies get them at xyz months" .  Then there's the "What percentile is he in for ??" "I don't know. We could care less. Look at him! He's so happy! So healthy".

I never get into conversations about non-vaxing because I can be obnoxious and over-opinionated and most moms I know are non-questioning vaxxers and become uncomfortable realizing how little they thought about vaxing their infants. I've definitely made conversations uncomfortable and I don't like making parents feel weird about their decisions. 

There are many conscious vaxxers out there and I respect their decision and totally get that they're doing exactly what I'm doing - what we think is best for our child/ren.

So, in short: Do you mama! 

You know your babes best

[ammiga]

We see a natural-minded doctor. We go in if there is a problem or every 12-18 months. I just like them to get a once-over from someone who can check physical developments that I can't.

[happy2]

I have been going - but not vaccin. Doc is supportive and I asked about well visits- if they are necessary. He said that it may be nice to have proof that I am taking care of my kid otherwise. But who knows, maybe he just wants the $$ for the visit. Dr. is very natural minded so it's nice to see him and ask questions..........he told me about the sling, baby wearing, BF, NOT having to mash food, and saved my babe from more "under the lamp" time after he was born - he prescribed 1 hour of skin to skin contact as a cure for low body temp.

So I go. It does not hurt.

[Magali]

We don't have a family Dr. due to the shortage of Dr.s in our area.  So we only see ER docs in case of emergency. 

[ma2two]

Well baby/child visits cost us a $10 copay, which we can easily afford. We get the height and weight information, and get to talk to the nice doctor (he really is nice) for a few minutes. I consider the appointments to be protection in case we were ever questioned about the care we give our children.

I would feel differently if the doctor harassed me about not vaccinating. But I told him from the beginning that I would not be vaccinating, and he accepts that. A non-vaccinating friend told me about him when I was pregnant.

Edited to add that the doctor is a family practice doctor, not a pediatrician.

Edited by ma2two - 6/29/11 at 11:59am

[Mattee Petersen]

Originally Posted by ma2two 

Well baby/child visits cost us a $10 copay, which we can easily afford. We get the height and weight information, and get to talk to the nice doctor (he really is nice) for a few minutes. I consider the appointments to be protection in case we were ever questioned about the care we give our children.

I would feel differently if the doctor harassed me about not vaccinating. But I told him from the beginning that I would not be vaccinating, and he accepts that. A non-vaccinating friend told me about him when I was pregnant.

Our ped is a harasser... He told me he was going to try and persusade us to get them every time we come in, and he has! SO... Looking for a new ped (this will be our 3rd).

[Marnica]

We go, but only to establish a relationship with the pediatrician who like pp's doc is ok with us not vaxing. For normal runof the mill stuff, I take DS to an ND who we love. But in my state ND's cannot prescribe, so in the event that the ND feels he needs to be on prescribed something (this has only happened once), it is nice to have at least a basic relationship with an MD who knows who my child is. I also think it's important in case anyone ever tries to cry medical neglect. More of a CYA thing I guess. Our first ped was more pushy about vaxes so I just found a different one.

Also DS will be starting preschool in the fall and I need to get the physical forms filled out anyway :)

[lovebeingamomma]

I'm taking my kids this summer because they need it for pre-school, after that I'm homeschooling.  My ped has no problem not bringing them for well check-ups, I bring them about once a year anyway (for an ear infection, high fever etc, when it goes beyond what I'm comfortable treating at home).  So at that point he checks everything he normally would for a well-check up, so what's the point?  I love our supportive ped, we don't vax and he's totally fine with it.  Even shares some of my concerns. 

[Lovemy3girls]

When younger, yes, but not anymore.

[AerialistEm]

My DD and I see the same family practice doctor and she is fantastic.  I take DD for well baby visits as well as sick baby visits and have not be harassed about vax.  I think family practice docs are often more flexible about that sort of thing.  It is convenient for us to see the same doc and I can ask questions about myself and my daughter at the same time.  Our visits don't cost me anything.  If there was a significant copay or I was paying out of pocket we would probably just go occasionally.

[Chloebelle]

I took both my kids as babies, but not on the recommended schedule, and I stopped when they were under a year. I've gone in a few times since I stopped the WBV. For a rash once, and maybe one other time. Our doc is a family doc and pretty laid back. He doesn't do shots anyways, so once we explained about not vaxing, he gave us his 2 cents, but that was about it. I feel like I should take them in for a check just to appease the establishment, but I'm not too bothered.

[just_lily]

I took DD in at 2mo, and just last week at 3yo!!  We just signed on with a new family doc, and I thought I should take her in. 

But my town also has weekly meet-up type things where new moms can go in and get their babies weighed and measured, speak to a public health nurse, and just chat amongst themselves.  I did that about once a month or so just to make sure DD was growing as she should.  She has always been on the smaller side (she is still only 20th %ile for height) so I liked to know she was sticking to her curve. 

But really.... you can find the percentile charts online if you want.  I just found it easier to use the baby scale at the clinic - now I just stick her on the bathroom scale.

If you aren't vaxing, I really don't think you need to stick to the standard WBV schedule.  I think there is definite value in an early check of heart/hips/etc. and then just pick whatever schedule you are comfortable with.

[chaoticzenmom]

I do well-child visits rarely.  I like to see our dr. fairly regularly, so if none of us has been sick for 6 months or so, I make a well-child appointment for one or more of the kids..or a check-up for myself.  This is really just to keep a relationship with our doctor. 

[ramama]

We don't really do them.  Except that we move a lot and are always changing doctors because of that, and like to establish care with a new doctor by actually seeing them as opposed to just putting our names on his/her list of patients.  Plus, DD has a peanut allergy, so we go in about every year to replace expired epi-pens.  DDs also used to go to a school that required a yearly health from filled out by our doc, so we went for those.  But not for "well-child" visits just because they recently had a birthday.

[T-man's Mama]

Nah. But not due to harassment for not vaxing (they don't seem to care). The first couple well-baby visits were done by our midwife in our own home. Somehow the pedi never got us on their schedule, because I never got a call or letter that it was time for an X-month check-up.

I did take DS in 2-3 times that first year for sickness. And we did finally schedule an 18-mo WCV, when staff actually mentioned it following a sick visit. But I was pretty unimpressed with the 18-mo visit: he was weighed and measured (we do both at home regularly), we fillled out a chart about his language development, and he got a brief physical exam which included the nurse trying to push back DS's foreskin, for no reason whatsoever. So yeah, I was pretty un-motivated to schedule another WCV.

If I ever had serious concerns, I would absolutely take him in. But why do so when he is perfectly healthy and risk him getting sick?!?!  Or forcibly retracted? I figure we're in there once or twice a year now for other reasons, and that is plenty...

[Bokonon]

I stopped taking my youngest to well visits after 9 months because we weren't vaxing, but I wasn't worried about harassment from the doc because he was ok with us not vaxing.  He was our ped. for years and my first was fully vaxed, so the doc knew that I had done a lot of research and didn't come to the decision lightly.  Because my daughter was a preemie, I did want her to be seen regularly the first year, but I didn't bring her to any well visits between 9 months and 2 years.  Several sick visits though (pinkeye, croup, RSV).

We have a new ped. now (because we moved) and he is very accepting of us not vaccinating, which is one of the reasons we chose him.  I think now that the kids only need to be seen once a year, I'll probably just do that to keep a good relationship with the doc, especially considering he won't give us grief over vaccinations.  My kids' birthdays are a month apart, so I can just do the well visits at the same time and be done with it.  :)

[Peony]

Yes and no. I didn't do them for years with my first and it was fine. She did end having multiple issues that I don't think would of been picked up a doc, it was something I always had to fight to get people to do evals. I then did do well visits for her for a couple of years but the pedi was working with DD1's therapists, and DD1 was old/healthy enough that she wasn't in the office unless it was a well visit. I always do well visits for my middle child. She does have asthma, and has always struggled with health issues from birth. Sick visits do not allow us enough time to actually talk about her issues, meds, keep her chart updated with her latest medical info. Sick visits here are 10 minute appointments rather then 30 minutes for a well child. I've done some with my 3rd child, I think I missed some the first year. I've kept up on the ones the next year because once again, he did have some issues. I knew prior to going to well visits that he was delayed so that wasn't new. 

I have an excellent pedi, I don't mind going to appointments, I really like her. There is no pressure to do anything. And my relationship with her over the years has been priceless. She has gone over and beyond what she had to do, I mean really going out of her way to get care/services for us. Everything from consulting with specialists in other towns so we wouldn't have to make the trek, pulling strings with specialists to get us seen sooner or even EI last time when they refused PT for DS, calling us from her house on her days off to check on my kids, on and on. It wouldn't be the same if I had just done sick visits, most of the time I never get her for sick visits, and the time is too short to actually do much of anything but assess the problem at hand. 

[abc123xyz]

I am in a situation where we do the visits, love our Dr., but don't want to do the visits SO OFTEN! We homebirth and I always take our baby in for a newborn exam, even though our midwife does a newborn exam, it gives me peace of mind and gets our new baby into her practice. (She has a wait list for her practice.) However, with our first, I had to transport to the hospital during labor and they opened a CPS record up on us for attempting a homebirth and for not vaxing so I feel we need to have those visits for him to say we have a supportive and established Dr. My second, I felt like it wasted so much time, money, and gas (we live 1 1/2 hrs from Dr.) to take him every 3 months. With our baby due in Nov, I wonder if she will let me do just yearly visits!? It's hard to approach because there are families in her practice that bring in more revenue and she could tell us she can't keep us on if that's the case and then we are without a Dr. who will not give us a hard time and is supportive. Another thing, she won't see all of our children at once, which I know may be overwhelming, but our visits are literally all done by the nurse because they don't get any "routine" well-child things. I guess I feel that because we travel so far, they would be willing to work with us but they won't. And there is a Dr. much closer who would be fine to goto but he is very old, he was my husband's Dr. when he was a baby/child, and I don't know how much longer he will be in practice. It's a hard thing to find balance in. But since we have insurance, I feel we should keep up with the visits. They can deny us coverage if the children are not seem at least yearly. Bummer...

[SilverMoon010]

I took my DS who is now 3 to just about every WBV when he was a baby up until he turned 2. After 2, we stopped.  Don't ask me why we took him to every visit. Looking back, it really made no sense.  I just followed along with the schedule I guess, even though we don't vax. With baby #2, not sure how to approach it but I know we certainly won't be going as much as we did with DS.  I think we may go sporadically a couple of times in the first year but then probably not much after that.  I don't really see much of a point if the baby is healthy, everything looks okay, and we're not vaccinating, especially since the WBVs are designed to match the vax schedule.